7 of 11Fiat 8V Supersonic, left, and the Jaguar XK120 Supersonic on the right.

Photo by Dirk de Jager

8 of 11Rear profile of the Jaguar XK120 Supersonic.

Photo by Dirk de Jager

9 of 11The Jaguar XK 120 Supersonic leading the Fiat 8V Supersonic.

Photo by Dirk de Jager

10 of 11Jaguar XK 120 Supersonic.

Photo by Dirk de Jager

11 of 11Closeup of the Weber carbs adorning the Jaguar XK120 Supersonic.

Photo by Dirk de Jager

It is a rarity to find a Jaguar that was sent to an Italian coachbuilder—less than a dozen are known to have been built—and perhaps strangely enough, most of them came from the small shop of Ghia, based in Turin. At the end of 1952, it started work on what would become one of its most sought-after design pieces.

Freelance designer Giovanni Savonuzzi drew up a design on request for his friend and famous car tuner Virgilio Conrero that was to be placed on a specially built Alfa Romeo that his Swiss client would race at the next Mille Miglia. To execute the build, Ghia was selected due to its specialty of building high-quality, one-off cars.

The heavily prepared Alfa Romeo 1900 that Conrero built did in fact make it to the start of the 1953 Mille Miglia. But during the first stage, the driver crashed the car, and it burned down to the ground.

Following the Mille Miglia, Luigi Segre, Ghia's commercial director, hired Savonuzzi, and they started planning a “production run” on what he termed his “supersonic” design. For the first car, they choose the Fiat 8V platform, since it was easily available and fairly cheap compared with similar offerings from Alfa and Maserati.

The Supersonic debuted at the Paris motor show, and by all accounts it was a hit. According to Fiat export files, 16 Fiats were shipped to Ghia and 15 received the Supersonic body, with the last one being completed in 1954. Ten of the coachbuilt Fiats are known to still exist.

A year later, French Jaguar importer Royal Elysees placed an order for two more Supersonics, but this time he wanted them built on the XK120 chassis.

Jaguar chassis No. 679768, a 1952 chassis and the car shown here in the photos, was the first one completed and was shown at the 1954 Paris motor show and subsequently appeared in various concours d'elegance.

Interestingly enough, this car also received some attention from tuner Conrero, as the engine received a new cylinder head and three Weber carburetors instead of the standard twin SU layout. This bumped up the horsepower from 160 hp to about 220 hp.

After the disappearance of its first owner, the car remained with the importer until 1969 when the business closed down. After that, the car remained in France with three different Jaguar enthusiasts until it left the country for the first time to where it resides today in Switzerland.

It is here with Graber Sports Garage that we find this burgundy gem, together with one of its “sisters,” a burgundy Fiat 8V.

Getting behind the wheel of the XK120 is a bit of an experience for anyone more than six feet tall as there isn't as much room behind the big wooden steering wheel as you might expect.

A comfortable seating position is difficult to find because of the cramped conditions. We have to push the throttle down from the bottom of the pedal, but luckily it's mounted from above, making it a bit easier.

When first gear is engaged, the lever is stuck against my knee and gives no room at all to move in order to operate the pedals. Even headspace is cramped, but with a car that looks this good, you just grin and bear it.

Once we are moving, it is a bit of a surprise how heavy the steering is, but again, you adapt to it quickly, and after a few minutes, I didn't really notice it anymore. It is only later in the evening that you feel it in your arm muscles that you had a bit of a workout with the car.

Yet cruising around the Swiss Alps following the similar-designed 8V is just an out-of-this-world experience. Savonuzzi's design attracts attention from nearly everyone who sees it, and seeing two such wildly designed cars driving together is truly something special.

Price new: GB£988 for a standard 1950 XK120 roadster. No estimate for the special coachbuild.